We advance particle physics research using a range of techniques, asking different questions and using different tools. All ultimately aim at the same scientific goal: a complete understanding of the laws of nature and the cosmos.

Our focused scientific mission, coupled with our accelerator and detector facilities and R&D infrastructure, keep the United States a world leader in particle physics research. Our program provides opportunities for international partners to participate in particle physics facilities in the United States.

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is a Department of Energy national laboratory dedicated to particle physics research. Fermilab supports work by scientists, from across the country and the globe, who seek to further our understanding of matter, energy, space and time.

More powerful than any microscope, a particle accelerator allows scientists to study the smallest things human beings have ever observed. At the same time, high-energy accelerators can recreate the conditions of the early universe – though in a much smaller volume. Creating tiny fireballs of high density and high temperature, physicists produce the particles that were abundant in the early universe, a trillionth of a second after the big bang.

About 2,300 physicists from all over the world come to Fermilab to conduct experiments using particle accelerators.

What are the smallest bits of matter that make up everything around us? What have physicists discovered about the forces bind them together? What do we know about the relationships between matter, energy, space and time? And how do we continue to uncover those little pieces of the universe?